President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that he will no longer be vaccinated against COVID-19.
In his public address Monday night, he said he was ready to just give his vaccine to others.
This is contrary to what he said earlier that he was ready to be vaccinated and experimented with the vaccine against COVID-19.
He later withdrew it and said that if he was vaccinated, he would be at the end of the line.
“Ako magwe-waive ako, magwe-waive ako, kasi 70 and above . . . Sa 70 and above ano ang makuha mo na dream, dream of what? Living until kingdom come? Ako mag-waive ako, kung sino gusto sa slot ko ibigay ko. Wala ako masyado, ako masyado, sa ano… I am not fatalistic actually na kung panahon ko na, if its COVID or ebola o disgrasya, wala ako illusion about life and death if anyone wants to have it, they can have it,” said Duterte.
Duterte added that it would be better to just give the vaccine to someone who can do more for the country.
“Ang unahin natin iyong mabubuhay pa. Come to think of it, ang unahin natin iyong medyo ‘pag nabigyan ng vaccine there is a chance that he would live, and live productively . . . Wala kami masyado maibigay sa ating bayan, sa edad namin,” he said.
Duterte willing to give his COVID-19 vaccine to others
Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration Director-General Eric Domingo gave a report on the status of vaccines in the country.
He said the emergency use authorization application of Barrat Biotech and Janssen is still being processed for their vaccines while awaiting the submission of the application of Moderna and Novavax vaccines.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved the use of the Sinovac vaccine from China in senior citizens.
This is amid the experienced shortage of vaccines in the Philippines against COVID-19.
But the FDA stressed that the health status and exposure risk of vaccinated seniors should first be evaluated.
The use of Sinovac was previously only allowed in the ages of 18 to 59 years.
But according to the FDA, they had to re-evaluate Sinovac’s data now that the supply of AstraZeneca vaccines is running out.